Chapter 7:
Enjoy the moment for what it is, not what it could be.
The next time Kate was actually aware of herself, she found herself basked in the comfort of her new bed, but still feeling like hell. She turned her face into the pillow, trying to rid herself of the feeling, but to no avail. She was feeling like shit on a summers day. She groaned at her aching head, and realised that there was a sudden freezing sensation on her forehead.
Trying to find out what it was that had been so cold yet not caused her to shiver, she blearily opened her eyes. Everything started spinning again, and she closed her eyes once more, willing her vision to still before she tried to move again. Now the ache in her head was resembling a heartbeat again, and the dull thudding matched her regular, but quick, breathing.
Opening her eyes again, she quickly got past the spinning, and found everything focusing on the thing before her.
"Hey." Jack whispered to her, replacing a damp cloth on her forehead now that she had stopped moving. Ah, she thought, so that's where the cold came from.
"Wha-" She said, stopping halfway through her scratchy word because of the sharp pain it sent down her throat.
"You passed out." He told her, looking down at her. No matter how disorientated she was, she couldn't miss the concern in his eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Shitty." She murmured, discovering that the quieter she made her voice, the less it hurt to speak.
Jack gave her a weak smile. "If it's any consolation, I don't think it's a hangover." He offered, and she groaned, resisting the temptation to bury her face in the pillow again because she knew it would only make her pillow wet if the cloth got pressed against it.
"So it's not going to disappear by lunchtime?" She assumed.
Jack glanced down at the watch he was wearing. "Kate, it's three in the afternoon." He told her.
"What?" She asked, sitting up in shock, but quickly collapsing back down with Jack's help when her head span uncontrollably.
"Hey, hey, just take it easy." He said softly, keeping his hand on her upper arm.
"I'm never drinking again." She whimpered quietly.
Jack gave her a gentle laugh, "I'll believe that when I see it." He teased, even though they both knew that this wasn't anything to do with alcohol.
They were silent for a while. Jack focused his attention on cooling her down, checking over everything he could think of, but the whole time, her eyes were trained on his face. He finally met her eyes, and gave her a reassuring smile, which she somewhat returned even though she felt like death.
"You should get some sleep." He told her, nodding.
She said nothing, just continued looking at him.
"Honestly, you'll feel better." He promised her, taking her silence as a plea not to remain in bed. "Just keep drinking water, and sleep it off."
"Sleep what off?" She asked finally.
"It looks like the flu." He confirmed, watching her groan at the thought. "Have you felt ill at all over the last few days?"
She shook her head, stopping when her whole skull seemed to rattle with the movement. "Not really."
"'not really'?" He questioned.
"I was sick about a week ago, but everyone was sick."
"Everyone?" He asked.
She nodded gently. "Couple of people were sick up on my wing." She confirmed. "A woman caught if off her son when he came to visit her."
Jack nodded, everything piecing together. "You must have caught the tail end of that then." He realised.
Kate groaned at the thought, and buried her face into the pillow on her side. Jack gave her a smile, and brushed her hair from her damp forehead.
"Don't worry." He assured her. "You'll be fine in a couple of days."
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Kate's weekend didn't get any better from there on. In fact, she was so determined to get better, than she ended up getting worse. By Saturday night, she forced herself out of bed and started on the stairs to join Jack in the living room to watch some television with him, but three stairs before the bottom, he came out of the kitchen and found himself face to face with her. Needless to say, a minute later, she was back in her bed.
Sunday morning, Jack brought her breakfast, which she managed to eat only half of before feeling sick. He helped her up and into the bathroom, and waited outside whilst she used the bathroom. However, when he heard the shower running, he had opened the door and escorted her back to bed before she'd even had a chance to undress for the shower. If she had done, he wasn't sure what he would have done.
Her next bid for freedom came around lunchtime. She got up to use the bathroom herself, when she had wondered how far she could get without Jack seeing her. Miraculously, she had been down on the couch for fifteen minutes and had even turned the television on before he had heard the television from the kitchen and had taken her back up to her bed.
Throughout the afternoon, she slept, unable to do anything else because she felt so drained from her small adventures. Every time Jack came upstairs, he checked in on her, bringing her another glass of water. It was all very well trying to flush her system out, but she was starting to need the bathroom every half an hour.
Jack checked in on her again to see if she wanted to try any dinner, but he found her fast asleep. About an hour later, he checked again, but found her bed empty. He wondered where she was this time, before spotting her silhouette behind the closed curtains at the window. He found himself smiling gently as he approached her, and pulled back the curtain a little.
"Hey." He said, when he saw her gazing out at the clear night.
She looked round at him lazily. "Hey." She whispered back.
Silently, he helped her to move forwards, and then he settled back on the window box behind her. She leaned back against his chest, and he brought his arms around her, holding them both onto the seat. He could see why she liked sitting here so much, as it really was a beautiful night.
"How are you feeling?" He asked her softly. There was no need to raise his voice, because with his face being so close to hers, there was only about an inch between his lips and her ear anyway.
"Terrible." She confessed. Her voice was even more hoarse now.
He gave her a sympathetic smile, which she couldn't see. This smile grew as, in her state of feeling like death frozen over, she turned slightly on her side in his arms and burrowed further against him. To give her the security she was looking for, he tightened his arms around her, and placed his lips to the top of her head to kiss the hair that he noticed smelt like the watermelon shampoo she had brought for herself. He liked it, it suited her. Content that she had found a comfortable position, she let out a sigh against him, closing her eyes.
"Jack?" She said softly, her scratchy voice reaching him and bringing him out of the daze he had thrown himself into with the new silence.
"Yeah?"
"When I was in prison, this is what kept me going." She revealed, not opening her eyes. "I kept reminding myself that I was definitely going to see you again one day, and it really helped me to know that."
He gave her another kiss on the top of the head. "There was no way I was letting you go for good."
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
There was a small pause with another breathy sigh, and then she smiled, cuddling up to him again. "I like this." She declared. "It's so much better than…anything else I've ever had."
He took a moment to decide what she meant by 'this'. Did she mean the household environment of the two of them, living and co-operating together, or did she mean lying here in his arms whilst he was more than happy to hold her tightly underneath the starlight. They'd do this on the island. Whenever either of them would have a bad day, they would wander down the beach a little way, and spend the night underneath a clear sky, just being with each other.
Although, he had to admit, the feeling of her in his arms, and knowing that she liked it, made him shiver. It was so comfortable that it felt insane to him. He wondered whether he was simply feeling towards her. He hadn't felt anything else in a long time, but he was definitely crazy about her, no matter what it was he was feeling. Right now, she was sick, and he was there taking care of her, but it didn't change the fact that she was in his arms, and it was the best feeling in the world.
He brought her closer against him, hearing her make a soft moan as he did so. No wonder she thought this was comfortable, he thought, she had been lying in bed for so long. "I'm glad you're happy here, Kate." He told her honestly. He hated the thought of her being somewhere else and being unhappy.
"Course I'm happy." She told him tiredly with a yawn. "You're here."
He smiled, and squeezed her into a hug. They were silent from then, he staring out into the darkness of the night, and she relishing in the comfort that came from being pressed against Jack's chest whilst he held her contently. Neither of them moved until Jack felt Kate's breathing even up against his upper arms, her breath hitting his skin gently, and he realised that she had fallen asleep. Carefully, he lifted her into his arms, and lay her down in the bed.
"Goodnight, Kate." He whispered to her sleeping body as he pulled the blanket over her, kissing her cheek before he left the room.
